


Marriage in Style

by needdl



Series: nejiten modern au [9]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-25 07:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17720651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/needdl/pseuds/needdl
Summary: Neji and Tenten adjust to the newlywed life.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> part one of a two-chapter piece! this was fun to write and sheer self-indulgence

**** Neji and Tenten didn’t get around to watching their wedding footage for almost three months. They’d had more interesting things to do- each other, mostly, but Tenten’s classes were kicking up and she was still settling into how she wanted to balance getting her doctorate with her job and home life. 

 

They finally had a weekend when they were both home and felt like watching the footage, and so Tenten sat down and wrote out the last few thank-yous for wedding gifts while she waited for Neji to bring out their dessert- usually, Tenten would cook the meal and Neji would make dessert, then they’d do the dishes together. She didn’t know what he was making tonight, only that it was complex and scientific and she’d been banished from the kitchen in the meantime.

 

She signed a thank-you note to a distant aunt of Neji’s- she’d gotten them the high-quality printer from their online registry, which had prompted Tenten to ask Neji how he’d charmed his aunt so thoroughly. (“My family is wealthy and likes to flaunt it in pretentious, meaningless ways,” was his only comment, to which Tenten shrugged and said, “Fine with me, we got a great printer out of it.”) The printer now sat in their shared office, ready for use.

 

Tenten picked up the next thank-you note, glanced at her watch, and frowned. “Babe, are you almost done? I wanna get started!”

 

“I’ll finish when I finish, Tenten,” came the terse reply. She rolled her eyes, then started jotting out a generic message to Choji’s parents. 

 

She’d just completed stuffing it into an envelope when Neji came out of the kitchen, walking slowly and carrying two small bowls in his hands. 

 

He set one down in front of her carefully, and she gaped at it. “Is this- is this an actual soufflé? Did you make  _ soufflé _ ?”

 

Neji nodded, looking very satisfied. 

 

“How do you know how to make it?”

 

He raised his brows, somewhat condescendingly. “It was a recipe, Tenten. Perhaps you’ve heard of them-”

 

She smacked his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Okay, you dick.”

 

She grabbed her spoon and dug it into her soufflé, then brought it to her mouth. It was warm and chocolatey, and she let a small happy noise and took another bite. “Oh my god, Neji, this is so good.”

 

“I’m glad you like it,” Neji took his own bite of his soufflé and looked pensive. “It’s perhaps a little sweeter than I intended, and I think I could have gotten more rise out of it-”

 

Tenten hooked her chin over his shoulder. “If you don’t like it, give it to meeee.”

 

He yanked his soufflé out of her reach. “Get out of here.”

 

“Booooooo.”

 

They started the wedding footage and settled in, eating their soufflé with the sides of their legs pressed together. At the start of her vows, Tenten let out a little groan and covered her head with a decorative pillow. 

 

Neji chuckled. “You really can’t stand to watch yourself profess you love for me?”

 

“Shut up!”

 

“Fine, don’t watch. I, however, have a vested interest in this section.”

 

“Great. Congrats.” She kept the pillow over her eyes until her on-screen counterpart had finished, then peeked over the top to watch as Neji began his own vows. She let out a tiny smile as on-screen Neji declared her his “fate”, and turned her head to look at her husband. 

 

He wasn’t watching the footage at all. Instead, he had turned to look at her and take in her reaction. He met her eyes and gave her such a soft look she felt her insides actually melt.

 

“I meant it,” he murmured. She mustered her will and held his gaze, even though every part of her wanted to hide away the soft mush she was becoming. “I know,” she whispered. She quickly turned her gaze back to the television to watch the kiss and raucous cheers that followed (three-hit combo of Lee, Naruto, and Kiba as part of the groomsmen, though Sakura and Ino in the bridal party were by no means quiet either), blushing under Neji’s lingering gaze. 

 

The camera followed the two of them back down the aisle, fingers entwined, before fading into their reception. Tenten jerked out her reverie and asked incredulously, “Shino seriously did this? I had no idea he was so good at video editing!” She turned back to look at Neji. “We paid him for this, right?”

 

“Yes, but he gave us a friends and family discount, then cut back even more as part of his wedding present.”

 

“We should pay him more.”

 

“Yes, I gave him extra already.”

 

“Oh, good.” 

 

They watched as the footage showed their guests settling into seats and Lee’s best man toast (he was wonderfully poetic and romantic, and only mentioned youth four times), followed by the dinner. After the first course, Ino and Sakura stood up for a joint speech that had on-screen Tenten hiding her face away in Neji’s shoulder. 

 

Watching the speech again from the comfort of her own home, Tenten could appreciate it a little more- it was fairly funny, after all. 

 

She stood up and grabbed their empty souffle dishes, then headed to the kitchen with them. “You want any wine?” She called over her shoulder.

 

“Yes, thank you.”

 

She grabbed an opened bottle from a few days earlier, plus a new one, and two wine glasses. Tenten settled back down next to Neji on the couch and poured them both a glass, sliding Neji’s to him.

 

She grinned at him. “Cheers.” They clinked their glasses together.

 

Neji ducked his head and kissed her. “To our marriage.”

 

“Cheeseball.” She kissed him again. “So far it’s been pretty damn good.”

 

“Good,” he echoed, kissing her again. They stopped and lingered in each other’s space for a little bit, before a voice from the the television caught their attention.

 

“What I like about them, or like why I think they’re a good couple?” Ino was squinting into the camera, a half-consumed glass of champagne in her hand. Judging by the slight sloppiness of her hair, it was towards the end of the reception, when some of the guests were a little tipsy. (Ino. Ino was a little tipsy).

 

Shino must have answered the question behind the camera because Ino sat back in her chair and made loud, thoughtful noises. “I like that… well, hm. Look, I’m drunk, don’t expect poetry. Hm.”

 

Sakura slid into the seat next to Ino, clutching an appletini. “Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii,” she said. Whether she was addressing Ino, the camera, or Shino was unclear. 

 

“Forehead, what do we like about Neji and Tenten as a couple.”

 

“PIG.”

 

“Ohhhhh, you’re  _ druuuuunk _ .”

 

“So what? I'll kick your ass!”

 

Tenten turned thoughtfully to Neji. “How did we not notice that most of the bridal party was drunk?”

 

“We were rather… occupied.” Neji smirked.

 

Tenten paused to remember some furtive, uh,  _ kissing _ that had happened in a side room towards the end of their reception. “Oh. That’s right.”

 

Onscreen, Ino slapped her hand down on the table. “I like that Neji thinks Tenten is one of the funniest people on the planet, even though her sense of humor is horrible and almost exclusively shitty puns or history jokes.”

 

Sakura, who was snuggled into Ino's shoulder with her eyes closed, grinned. “Yeah! History…”

 

“Like, Tenten will be having a conversation with someone, and then be like… ‘Hurr durr, Hashirama Senju something something-’”

 

Tenten took a sip of her wine. “She could at least tell a decent joke.”

 

“-and like, it’ll be some obscure reference that no normal person will understand-”

 

“What!” Tenten scowled at the screen. “Hashirama frickin’ Senju is not  _ obscure _ .”

 

“-but Neji will always laugh. Every time. I mean, I always kind of laugh, just because  _ she  _ thinks she’s funny-” Tenten huffed indignantly. “But not only does Nej understand the reference, he thinks it’s funny.”

 

“Yeah, because  _ I’m funny _ .” Tenten told the television loudly. “NOT MY FAULT YOU NEVER TOOK A HISTORY CLASS AFTER FRESHMAN YEAR, YAMANAKA.”

 

Neji watched her ranting at Ino (who, of course, was not actually there) and grinned. He  _ did  _ think Tenten was funny, but she was most humorous to him when it was unintentional- when she blustered away at his affections, or when she let her emotions overwhelm her common sense (as she was doing now).

 

He continued to drink from his wine and watched as Tenten cussed out her (still absent) friend. After a minute or two, she sat back with a harrumph and took a gulp of her wine. She turned to Neji and gave him a sulky look. “I’m funny.”

 

Neji shrugged and indicated the television, where the footage had cut away to show the pair of them watching Hinata’s short but heartfelt speech. “I think so, but apparently my opinion is not to be trusted.”

 

“Well, it’s the one the matters most to me, so Ino can suck it.”

 

“Matters most, hm?”

 

“It’s why I married you,” Tenten leaned over to kiss him. “Good opinions.”

 

“Thank you. I practiced.”

 

Tenten snorted and turned back to the television, keeping herself tucked against his side. He pressed his lips against her temple and lingered, before resting his head against hers and giving the footage his attention. 

 

The final shot was the two of them slowly dancing together, silhouetted against the setting sun. 


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not exactly a valentine's theme, but its romance-y

Tenten entered through the garage door and let it slam shut behind her, tossing her keys towards the hook and not even bothering to check if they landed on it (they did, of course). She kicked off her shoes and glared at them for a moment, holding no desire to put them away, before picking them up and tossing them onto her shoe stand so Neji wouldn’t hunt her down later.

 

Speaking of… “Babe, I’m home,” she called through the house. She could hear Neji faintly respond from the kitchen and stomped her way toward him, tossing her coat toward the rack and dumping her bag by the stairs. 

 

“How was work?” Tenten heard him ask, and she stormed her way into the kitchen- taking a quick note of Shikamaru, slouched into a stool at the counter with his laptop out and a few papers scattered around him- before burrowing herself against Neji’s side and making small, unhappy noises.

 

“That bad?” He draped his arm around her waist and squeezed her slightly. “What happened?” 

 

“Just… one thousand little things went wrong, and they built up to be one day of pure suck.” 

 

“Mm. I’m sorry.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and started rubbing his hand on her back. 

 

Shikamaru shifted a little on his stool, and Tenten pulled herself out of her wallowing long enough to say, “Hi, Shikamaru,” before tucking her head into Neji’s chest.

 

“Hey,” Shikamaru’s voice was slightly muffled to her ears. He and Neji started talking to one another again, and after a few moments Tenten pulled away from her husband and went upstairs to get changed.

 

In the middle of shucking off her shirt, Tenten abruptly about-faced and marched into the bathroom. She rinsed out the tub and began filling it, adding in mandarin blossom bubble bath and some bath salts.

 

_ I deserve this, damn it,  _ she thought angrily to herself as she kicked off the last of her clothing. She stepped into the tub and let out a small, involuntary sigh, sinking down into the water and tilting her head back against the rim of the tub.

 

Tenten soaked for a few minutes, before sitting back up to grab her book and realizing she’d left it on the bedside table.

 

_ Go figure _ , she thought stonily. She glanced over at the floor, where her phone was sticking out of the pocket of her pantsuit jacket, stubbornly just out of reach. She couldn’t even text Neji to ask him to bring her the book. Tenten resigned herself to just sitting and getting pruney.

 

She had been zoning out for a few minutes when there was a knock on the bathroom door. She called for Neji to come in, and he stood in doorway for a few moments, staring at her in the tub with his brow furrowed.

 

“Really that bad of a day?”

 

Tenten stuck out her lower lip out in a pout that she  _ knew  _ made him feel a little frantic (despite his frequent denials that it had any effect on him whatsoever). He finally walked into the room and stretched out his arm to offer her book to her.

 

“Oh!” She gave him a delighted grin, and he blinked rapidly in succession. “Thank you! I was so bummed when I realized I’d left it in the bedroom.”

 

Neji hummed slightly in response, taking in the pile of discarded clothing she’d left on the floor. She let a little sigh. “I’ll pick them up once I’m done with my bath.”

 

“I know, I know.” He walked back towards the closet, one hand loosening his tie. Tenten flipped to where her bookmark was, and idly began reading.

 

Neji emerged from the closet wearing athletic shorts and a lightweight tee. Tenten gave the fabric spanning his chest an appreciative eye- his shirts had gotten a little tighter once she started buying them for him, and she had to admit her efforts were paying off.

 

Neji sat down on the tub surround at her feet and settled his back against the wall. “Care to talk about what… sucked… about your day?”

 

“Depends. Care to get me a glass of wine?”   
  


He stared at her for a moment, arms folded over his chest and looking thoroughly unconvinced. She gave him her most charming smile.

 

Finally he stood up with a sigh. “You’re lucky you’re naked and slathered in bubbles.”

 

“ _ Hell  _ yeah,” she muttered to herself, shamelessly ogling his rear on his way out. 

 

Twenty minutes and one and a third glasses of wine later, Tenten had finished her mile-long list of complaints, and had also gotten Neji to bring her a face mask, her favorite body scrub, makeup remover, a few candles (that he subsequently lit and placed around the tub for her), and some strawberries. Her man knew how to spoil her, that was for sure. 

 

She’d also been working on getting Neji to get into the tub with her. It mostly involved flashing him, but judging by the keen interest glinting in his eye, it was  _ highly  _ effective. 

 

As time had worn on, he’d moved so his legs were over the edge of the tub, water up to his calves. Their conversation had degenerated rapidly into flirting and innuendo, and at its peak Tenten had taken a sip from her wine, eyes fixed on Neji, and asked, “So are you getting in here with me, or am I going have to crawl into your lap?”

 

His face blazed crimson, and he began choking out incomprehensible sputters. She gave him a few moments, watching from over the rim of her wine glass, before taking pity on him. 

 

She moved to the other end of the tub and shifted up onto her knees, so her torso was between Neji’s legs. She placed both of her hands on the topside of his thighs and surged up to kiss him.

 

Neji met her lips with a ragged groan, hands forming into fists on the tub surround. After a moment, Tenten pulled away and looked up at him with a smirk. Wordlessly, she grabbed the hem of his shirt and began lifting it, letting go only when he began taking it off himself. 

 

He paused with his shirt off, looking at the soapy water in the tub with a look of slight distaste on his face. Tenten rolled her eyes.

 

“I can drain it out and refill it if it bothers you.”

 

“That’s using a lot of water.”

 

“It’s fine, we won’t shower for the next couple days.” She looked up at him and grinned as he looked slightly disgusted with the very idea.

 

Ten minutes later, Tenten had finally filled the tub back up- no soaps this time, just water- and was leaning back against Neji’s chest, head turned to the side and her face tucked into his neck. Neji had both arms around her waist, and his own head (hair clipped up into a messy bun that always got Tenten feeling warm and handsy) was tilted back to rest on the rim of the tub. 

 

They sat together for a few minutes, just enjoying the shared space and listening to the soft sounds of the classical music Tenten was playing over the speakers. 

 

Neji stirred slightly and reached for the still mostly full glass of wine, taking a sip and setting it back. Tenten nuzzled herself further into his neck. “You stealing my wine?”

 

“Shhhhh.”

 

“Thief.” She sat up and pulled away from him, noting with amusement the slight flex of his arms, as if he was half-heartedly trying to pull her back.

 

Tenten turned so she faced Neji, grabbing the face mask sitting still unused at the edge of the tub. She held it up to Neji with a grin. “Care for a relaxing lavender mud mask?”

 

He stared at her for a moment, his expression a mixture of fondness and exasperation, before sighing and saying, “Fine.”

 

“Really?” Her smile widened. 

 

“Yes, really.”

 

She wiggled a little in excitement, and let out a quiet, “Yay!”

 

Neji closed his eyes as she spread the mask over his forehead. As she smoothed her thumb down the crease of his brow, she slowed her movements down and took the time to admire his face.

 

_ He really is handsome _ , she thought idly to herself. 

 

Of course, she knew he was handsome, and had known it since she first met him in middle school- though back then, of course, she would have considered him ‘cute’. But Neji’s looks only became more refined as he got older, and sometimes he’d unintentionally dazzle her- a rare, unrestrained grin, the intensity that came over his expression when he concentrated on something-

 

She must have taken a long time to move, because Neji opened his eyes and raised his brows at her. “Everything all right?”

 

“’M fine.” She told him cheekily. “I just think you’re preeeeeetty.”

 

His cheeks flushed slightly. “I see.” He closed his eyes again as she kept applying the mask over his nose and cheeks.

 

Tenten covered the last bit his face beneath his lower lip and pressed a light kiss to his mouth- carefully, so she wouldn’t get the mask on her face. “Done! How’s it feel?”

 

“Like I have mud on my face.” Neji opened his eyes and blinked a few times, the grabbed the container from her. “Your turn.” 

 

He began applying the mask on her face. His fingers were unusually warm from the tub- normally his hands were relatively cold compared to hers. Tenten always nagged him that he needed to eat more foods with iron, and on nights when he was planning on working late she’d leave raisins on his desk, along with ginger lemon tea. (Neji always drank the tea, but she strongly suspected him of throwing the raisins away. He never did care for them.)

 

A few minutes later, Tenten’s face mask was spread evenly over all parts of her face- Neji had done a much better job than she had, because of course he did. 

 

An idea sparked, and she leaned over and grabbed her phone. “C'mere, let's take a picture.”

 

“What?” Neji actually moved a few inches away from her. “No.”

 

“Yes! It'll be cute!”

 

“Cute- Tenten, we are  _ nude _ .”

 

She rolled her eyes. “I'm not going to take explicit pictures, dumbass. Just our necks and faces.”

 

He sighed and raised his hand to pinch his brow between his fingers, but remembered the face mask and pulled away. “Tenten.”

 

“If I wanted nudes, I'd wait for us to be out of the tub, so we could pose sexier.”

 

Neji sighed again. “ _ Tenten _ .”

 

“Please? We have matching face masks, we're adorable.”

 

He gave her the same look he had earlier, his annoyance combatting the genuine affection in his gaze. She kept her own expression as earnest as possible, letting her eyes widen and her mouth pucker just the slightest bit.

 

He twitched a shoulder in irritation. “Fine.”

 

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Tenten quickly settled against his side and raised her phone up. She grinned at the sight of them in the camera- they really did look cute when they were twinning like this. Now she just needed to convince Neji to do a couple's Halloween costume.

 

She snapped three quick photos. Neji even smiled for the second two, which made her own grin stretch even wider. She looked them over in her phone, then- with a quick glance at Neji to confirm that he was mid-sip of the wine and not paying attention- she saved her favorite as her background photo.

 

Task complete, Tenten turned back to her husband. “ _ Now  _ let’s get out and do the nudes.”

 

Neji’s resulting flush was  _ very  _ gratifying to watch.


End file.
